The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-26
THE HIGHEST CALL.

He is away from the true source of
manhood and life. How many there
are who are PROSTATE on the earth, and
who need to listen to the call of God
How many there are who are degrading
manhood by low and sordid aims and
employments Take the slaves of ap-
petite and passion. They are PROSTATE
by reason of their indulgence, living on
the lowest plane of existence, seeking
their food in the dust, and apparently
ignorant Of the fact that there is no
bier and higher way, more exalted
life than that which they experience.
Their position deprives them Of all the
sublime spiritual enjoyments which
God has provided for his children. The
soul is defled by the atmosphere in
which they live, and all the generous
and noble instincts of nature are starry
ed for the want of nutriment. Their
highest conception of good is that which
comes through the fundamentally of the
senses; they live where they can catch
only occasional glimpses of holiness and
its delights, of purity and its blessings,
of peace and its endowments. Their
perceptions of spiritual things are dark
eued, and they are deaf to the voice of
the Eternal forever sounding through
the works and word of God.
We take the census every tenth year
to find out how many people the coun-
try c0ntains-to indicate in statistics
the material growth of the country.
If it were possible to gather together
the figures of the non-religious life, we
would doubtless be amazed at the num-
Der who, even in religious communities
and surrounded by many blessed infu-
ences, have no proper conception of
duty to irradiate their lives, who fail
to acknowledge personal responsibility
before God, who, while living in a world
that's spanned by Eternal Love, eyet
outside Of the proper recognition of the
divine care.
Christianity comes to arouse such
souls from this sluggish Indifference,
this neglect of higher duties, and to lay
the foundations of character strong and
deep amid the governing principles of
the life. It's purpose is to make the
life Of man high and noble, to give it
dignity before God, and to make it ac-
ceptable in his sight. 1t comes to man
to arouse his spiritual faculties, and
turn his attention inward upon himself
and the sources of his strength; to in
spire new ambitions; to encourage new
hopes, and to enable him to recognize
the true condition and needs of the
spirit, and to confer the strength needed
for personal emancipation. The his
tory of all spiritual conflict, from st.
Augustine down to the last converted
sinner, exhibits the necessity of man
understanding his condition as sinner,
and Of himself adopting the means of
cure. 1t is a matter of personal decis-
ion, of strong and manly turning away
from evil ways, rising above all earthly
seductions, and changing the order of
life from abject slavery to evil things,
and bringing it into obedience to God
-conquering former ways, habits, dis
positions, and placing the soul in COM
mand of all the faculties and powers.
Religious character, the world needs
to understand, is not something drop
ped down from heaven on call; not
boon granted on individual application,
but an issue flowing from the right
choice, determinately made, and fol-
lowed up strenuously as the supreme
ambition of life. 1t is the result of
the divine election which man makes
the consequence of the new direction
in which his life has been turned, and
of the new hopes and impulses which
have come into his being.
In harmony with the exalted estimate
of the power of man to thus make his
decision and to rise above the slavery
in which he has lived, in attestation of |
the power and ability which resides in
him to this end, are the commands adj |
dressed to us in the sacred volume. |
These all recognize an inherent ability |
in man to obey all divine commands
and to assume the dignity and grandeur
of spiritual beings. This power is not
a transferred or delegated principle,
but an original attribute of the soul
a special function and faculty of its
nature.
Theology has taught otherwise in the
past. 1t has been sadly inconsistent in
this matter. Ithas advocated a certain
theory in regard to mankind, which has
been in direct opposition to this view of
human ability, and one that gave small
hope or encouragement for man to make
any advance in the direction of moral
and spiritual progress. We are wiser
IN this particular now, and rightly
;leave to the truth that man has all
leedful power in the premises. 1t is
40 impossible condition that is laid
upon him. The heavenly Father is not
he hard task-master represented in the
,oaA oraafsnns hronH of quill |